Scotland's Lisa Aitken wondered if she would ever walk normally again as she battled back from a career-threatening knee injury.
The 34-year-old has had surgery three times after fully rupturing the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments as well as tearing the meniscus in her knee during a match in late 2022.
Almost two years on, Aitken - who has competed in three Commonwealth Games - will make her comeback at next week's Qatar Classic at Khalifa International Squash Complex in Doha.
"Just having to have two follow-up surgeries, I was thinking 'will I ever be able to walk normally again?' There was a significant period of time where I was limping," she told BBC Sport Scotland.
"The more time went on, the more I became aware I might not be able to return to sport at an elite level and then my mindset probably had a little shift to 'I just want to walk again, I just want to be able to run after my kids one day' and rehab the knee from that point of view.
"But that was very short lived. The way athletes are wired, you always want to defy the odds, you always want to achieve great things even if they are impossible, so that very quickly changed to 'I just want to get back on tour'.
"I am probably real about the goals I want to achieve now; just getting back on tour and being able to put on that dress, have the sweat bands on, have a referee call out my name and the score is simply the short-term goal."
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